Reds and Jets grind out draw

Newcastle Jets and Adelaide United remain wedged in a cluttered A-League midsection after a scrappy scoreless draw on Friday night.

Both clubs blew a chance to rise up the ladder in a defence-dominated encounter before 8,400 spectators at Hindmarsh Stadium.

The sixth-placed Jets and eighth-placed Reds created just three shots on target between them, with Adelaide surviving the final half hour with 10 men after defender Nigel Boogard was shown a second yellow card.

Adelaide United coach Rini Coolen was unable to explain the sloppy standard of the match.

"Both teams I think didn't play a good game. That is not what you want to show people," he said.

"A point is not good enough but we have to accept it."

Jets coach Gary van Egmond was relieved to get a point away from home for the first time this season.

"The first half we actually controlled the mainstay of the game," he said.

"I think it was a missed opportunity but by the same token we haven't had a point on the road all year - and to have a clean sheet on the road is also a positive for us."

The first half was notable for Newcastle's inability to capitalise on its control of the game.

Adelaide striker Bruce Djite had threatened 20 minutes earlier with a deft turn and run at goal but a mistimed left footer marked the only time time he managed to break the defensive clamp of Newcastle's Nikolai Topor-Stanley.

Djite again broke the shackles early in the second half with a crafty through ball, gifting winger Iain Ramsay a gilt-edged chance.

Ramsay found himself closing on goal with Jets 'keeper Matthew Nash grounded and stranded off his line.

Ramsay aimed with his non-preferred right foot, only to watch Newcastle defender Tarek Elrich save his side with an instinctive protective block from the goal line.

The attacking waste continued in the 62nd minute when Newcastle's Francis Jeffers found himself with rare space some 20 metres from goal, but his volley attempt sailed harmlessly wide.

Some three minutes later, Adelaide defender Nigel Boogard snapped and was needlessly sent off.

Boogard, carrying a yellow card for a crude first-half pull down of Ruben Zadkovich, was penalised for hand ball and exploded at referee Matthew Gillett, who justifiably marched the Reds' defender.

But despite their subsequent numerical advantage, the Jets' only legitimate scoring chance in the final 30 minutes came from a wide header by substitute Labinot Haliti.

Adelaide momentarily thought it had snuck the winner in the 88th minute when substitute Fabian Barbiero found the net, only to be correctly called offside.